Church makes Berkeley Heights an offer: swap school for library

BERKELEY HEIGHTS — A property swap with a local church could lead to the consolidation and revitalization of the church, a new municipal center and an expanded downtown footprint.

Township residents heard about this for the first time Tuesday night, at the council meeting. Little Flower Church members heard about it for the first time on Sunday, at mass.

In a homily which is also published on the church’s website, the Rev. Andy Prachar wrote, "I was wearing the property manager hat more than I was wearing the hat of the priest and pastor," and proposed “right sizing” Little Flower Church’s property.

The move would involve swapping the Upper Church, rectory, parish center and surrounding property at 110 Roosevelt Ave. for the Berkeley Heights Library and its land, which are next to the Little Flower Church on Plainfield Avenue. The church would then reconfigure its properties along Plainfield Avenue.

The township would gain the ability to build a new municipal center on the Upper Church property and could sell its current town hall and municipal offices for additional development in the downtown area.

On Wednesday, Mayor Joe Bruno, a member of the parish, said, “Father Andy called us a while ago and asked if we were interested,” in the concept. Council members seem to be quite interested, based on their reaction Tuesday evening.

Little Flower Church has about 26 acres of land that connect to each other on Plainfield and Roosevelt avenues, while the township has three acres on Plainfield Avenue. The Upper Church Property is deed restricted and, if it is not used for an educational purpose, it reverts back to the township. Currently, it is still used for CCD instruction, so that keeps the property from reverting to the township.

The problem for the parish is that “they just can’t afford it anymore,” said Bruno. They are a small parish that is land rich and cash poor.

Rev. Prachar said none of this is cast in stone. The Archdiocese of Newark has to approve it, but they do know it’s being discussed.

“It’s unmanageable because of all the property we have,” he said. The land was bought from the township in the early 1960s and the parish built the Little Flower School. Its auditorium is used for mass and “the building to the right of the school was a convent,” he said.

The school was closed about 25 years ago, he said.

As for the township, the plan is to have independent appraisers look at the land, the possible costs involved in the land swap — there could be cash involved, and Rev. Prachar said he hopes there will be.

“If it is not fiscally possible, it’s not fiscally possible,” Bruno said.

Taking a long-term view of such an arrangement, Bruno said, “For us it’s a matter of being able to consolidate all of town hall into one place.” Various departments are scattered around the township and even in different locations in the current town hall complex.

“It’s all fragmented. We could put everybody into one complex,” said Bruno. He sees the auditorium where church services are now held as “a community center, a meeting place for seniors during the day” and, possibly, a theater at night. He said the rescue squad is down the block, the fire department is across the street and there’s plenty of land to create a complete municipal complex.

"When we have something coherent to talk about, we'd like to have public hearings" on it, said Bruno.

He said the township would move slowly on this but, for now, "It looks promising."